M. Evans, Tackling Torture: Prevention in Practice. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press, 2023, 208pp., GBP 19.99 (paperback).
Malcolm Evans’ newest book focuses on preventing torture, specifically what can and is done at a practical level to make prevention a reality. It is written in an engaging and accessible manner, making it easy for a non-specialist to understand. He draws on his extensive experience working globally in this area, including many field visits to places of detention around the world and many years spent bridging the gap between law and practice, to make the case for why and how preventing torture is fundamental to the human rights project.
We frequently hear the word “torture” used colloquially to the extent that its true meaning has been diluted or obscured. But the word has a specific legal meaning and application. In Chapter 1 Evans seeks to provide the reader with definitions and an understanding of what constitutes torture. I say “seeks to” because, by his own admission, the legal definitions are somewhat broad and open to different interpretations. The definition in the UN Convention Against Torture is, as Evans points out, a floor rather than a ceiling, and there is an ever-evolving understanding from international human rights bodies of what constitutes torture and what constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Of course, there exists case law, treaty body jurisprudence, and independent expert reports to help guide our knowledge, but application of law to facts often is an art rather than a science.
Definitions are important foundations for this book, and they are used as a platform for Evans to make the case for how and why prevention needs to be foregrounded. Chapter 2 makes the case for a holistic approach that goes beyond standard-setting, establishing legal breaches, or even remedies. Prevention, he insists, “is about identifying what can make a difference and then doing it – whatever that might be” (46). That call to action is not one that he takes lightly. Indeed, Evans has devoted many years of his life to doing exactly what he sets out in this book, and often having to navigate around those who seek to block or undermine that work. As he emphasizes, those with “operational or political responsibility” to prevent torture often say that they cannot do so when what they mean is that they will not (49). But, as Evans shows throughout the book, that must not undermine or block prevention activities by other actors.
At the heart of this book is Evans’ long-standing work on the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT). The newest treaty body in the UN human rights system, the SPT has a unique preventive mandate that centres a proactive approach to preventing torture and other forms of ill-treatment. In Chapter 3 we learn about the legal and political history behind the drafting of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) that underpins the SPT. Evans explains that history and, in Chapter 4, the substance of OPCAT in a way that will appeal both to the non-specialist reader and to those working in this specific area. He provides details and insights that can only be known by an insider who was there throughout, and who has intimate knowledge not only of the law and practice but also of the actors and institutions.
Two unique features of the SPT are its visiting mandate (Chapter 5) and how it interacts with National Preventive Mechanisms (Chapter 6). Even for those with an intimate knowledge of the UN human rights system, these two chapters provide perhaps the most informative explanations of how the SPT works in practice. The SPT undertakes its work in a very different way than the other nine treaty bodies, and Evans provides an insider–outsider perspective based on his extensive scholarly and practitioner knowledge.
The book is divided into two parts. The first six chapters explore the instruments, mechanisms and institutions, while the second (Chapters 7–12) provides a deep dive into the practice of prevention. Throughout the book Evans draws on his own experiences, but Part 2 of the book provides greater breadth and depth of detail about the work he has done throughout his time on the SPT.
Chapter 7 provides the reader with insights into the field visits that Evans and his colleagues have undertaken as part of the SPT’s unique mandate. There is something about the details he provides that makes the reader feel as though we are accompanying him on these visits. For those of us who spend considerable time reading reports written by human rights experts, it is these details that bring to life how the information was gathered to write those reports. The way he describes those visits underscores the importance of remembering that it is individuals who undertake these visits, and indeed that it is individuals who work in the institutions being visited.
That human-centred approach continues throughout the following chapters. In Chapter 8 I read the story that continues to trouble me (pages 140–141). Evans describes a scene that ought to have horrified those who were living it, but that was instead accepted and described by them as “calm” or normal. The description of that and other visits, the details of which Evans provides in such a calm manner, allows the reader to wonder how we got to this point, and what it would be like to walk in the victims’ shoes. But make no mistake, this book is not a litany of horrors, and through the exploration of the problem Evans continues to focus on how to fix it.
While Evans remains characteristically calm and understated throughout, Chapters 7 to 10 in particular are not easy to read, as each chapter brings to the fore the harrowing human rights abuses that are almost routine or normalized in some of the places where he conducted visits. And yet, throughout the book Evans provides not just hope for change, but also the pathway for how such change can and should be brought about. Chapters 11 and 12 bring us back to the message from the first half of the book: what can be done, and how it can be achieved. This, again, is characteristic of Evans’ work and personality. He remains hopeful that hard work, commitment, dedication and drive can and will ensure that human rights are foregrounded and implemented. The hardest part about putting down this book is knowing that the central message is a call to action for all readers, a reminder that the practice of prevention is not only necessary but is the responsibility and duty of us all.